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It's nice for reading and web surfing to have just the lightweight
standalone touchscreen. My iPad goes for days between charges.
Non-Bluetooth accessory keyboards don't have to be charged.
On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 8:22 AM, McLauchlan, Kevin
<Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com> wrote:
> I continue to wonder about this use of tablets.
>
> If you use a tablet as a tablet, most of the time, then you hold it nekkid and use your preferred hand to stroke it, as you read ebooks, browse, watch videos/stream TV or movies, play games. The onscreen, pop-up keyboard is adequate for URLs and the occasional "OMG!.... " comment after a video, or a text/tweet to share the link.
>
> Or maybe you use a folding feature or a hinged flap of a tablet cover, to prop it up for reading/viewing... but now you've added weight.
>
> If you sometimes use a tablet as a work tool, then you need a keyboard.
> I have definitely not tried large numbers of keyboards, but I do have an Apple BlueTooth keyboard that I very much like for typing, having tried several keyboards that come-with/are-built-into tablet cases, and found them unreliable, or uncomfortable for much typing, or both. (I do have large, but not huge, hands, always taking an extra-large glove, and I can often top-grip a basket-ball if I *push* it into my grip, but not if I catch it one-handed, if that's any indication.) Anyway, unless you are fanatical about planning, you end up just carrying the keyboard with the tablet, so you'll have it whenever you want to switch from purely tablet-ish pursuits.
>
> So, now you have a small notebook, albeit a makeshift one, where you have to charge (at least) two main components separately.
> Until about a year ago, I would have said that the tablet-plus-case-with-keyboard was still viable, because of the touch-screen nature of the tablet. But now, touch-screen notebooks and ultrabooks are popping up everywhere, AND they have nicer keyboards, AND they are better balanced for use on a lap or airplane/train table.
>
> If a body is not locked into the Apple ecosystem, why would you bother with a pure tablet, now, over a touch-screen notebook, given that you intend to do any serious work on it?
>
> And we haven't even gotten into "slice" batteries and other additional baggage that get carted around with tablets when people want to use them for work. You're getting up into the weight range of, say, the XPS-12 ultrabook. Or one of those other ones with the twist-and-fold screen. Granted those are likely heavier than the larger iPad or a Samsung 10.1, but then you add the additional equipment to those, and that touch-screen ultrabook with swivel/flip screen is looking good... and complete.
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